B67: American Songs

Here's a playlist. I think it's a really great one, albeit it's a bit obvious.

My starting point was listening to The Band a lot lately, and also to the great song by Drive-By Truckers, 'Danko/Manuel'.

So, yes, The Band were 4/5 Canadian, but that's, in a way, what made them one of the definitive American bands. All the acts in the playlist will be American, apart from a few Canadians who are wrapped up in American music.

This got me thinking about five bands of the 60s, all beginning with B, whose instrumental and vocal sounds really define what white rock and pop became - The Beatles, The Bee Gees, The Band, The Beach Boys, The Byrds. There are similarities between various of them, but all took the music down different paths. All of them had such brilliant singers. [there is a 6th too, which i think is almost as important and influential, though a little later and much less successful - Big Star].

I also thought the "survivors" of each band tell a tale. Each act has had tragedy, and each has a small number of survivors holding their legacy, sometimes harmoniously, sometimes controversially.

Anyway, the Beatles and the Bee Gees aren't on this playlist, for obvious reasons, but the other three are all very much part of it.

Like I said, it's a bit obvious in parts, it's a tour through frontline American music history, but I've tried to make connections everywhere. If there's modern music, I want it to call to the past.

There is so much that isn't there which could be there. I didn't want to go too far into folk/acoustic music, country music, modern Americana, or pop, but there's a bit of all of them.

I could make the list again, include so many different things. but still I hope you enjoy.

https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/american-songs/pl.u-d29JjFAZrR6

1. Danko/Manuel - Jason Isbell
2. The Weight - The Band
3. Blind Willie McTell - Bob Dylan
4. Who Do You Love? - Bo Diddley
5. Diamonds and Rust - Joan Baez
6. Boulder to Birmingham - Emmylou Harris
7. The Return of the Grievous Angel - Gram Parsons
8. So You Want To Be a Rock'nRoll'Star - The Byrds
9. Turn! Turn Turn! - Judy Collins
10. Carry On - CSNY
11. My Baby Don't Understand Me - Natalie Prass
12. Heads Gonna Roll - Jenny Lewis
13. Free Falling - Tom Petty
14. Crying - Roy Orbison
15. Bring it On Home to Me - Sam Cooke
16. Mercy Mercy Me - Marvin Gaye
17. Mississippi Goddam - Nina Simone
18. Blood on the Leaves - Kanye West
19. The Wolves - Bon Iver
20. Frankie's Gun - Felice Brothers
21. What it Means - Drive-By Truckers
22. Formation - Beyonce
23. Pa'lante - Hurray for the Riff Raff
24. Fortunate Son - Creedence Clearwater Revival
25. Dancing in the Street - Martha and the Vandellas
26. i - Kendrick Lamar
27. Night Train - James Brown
28. He Got Game - Public Enemy
29. Sonny Could Lick All Them Cats - Chuck E Weiss
30. Hold On - Alabama Shakes
31. Love Love Love - Mountain Goats
32. Spanish Mary - Rhiannon Giddens
33. Where Did You Sleep Last Night? - Nirvana
34. Dancefloors - My Morning Jacket
35. Mannish Boy - Muddy Waters
36. Dylan Thomas - Best Oblivion Community Center
37. Heart Like a Wheel - Kate and Anna McGarrigle
38. Tell It Like It Is - The Neville Brothers
39. Johnny B Goode - Chuck Berry
40. I Walk on Gilded Splinters - Dr John
41. Rock'n'Roll - Mos Def
42. If All I Was Was Black - Mavis Staples
43. Hummingbird - Wilco
44. Bastards of Young - The Replacements
45. September Gurls - Big Star
46. The Trader - The Beach Boys
47. Maybe the People Will Be the Times Or Between Clark and Hillsdale - Love
48. California Soul - Marlena Shaw
49. Sitting on the Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding
50. Eye Know - De La Soul
51. Livin' for the City - Stevie Wonder
52. Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell
53. Hudson Line - Mercury Rev
54. Midnight Train to Georgia - Gladys Knight and the Pips
55. Downtown Train - Tom Waits
56. The Gash - The Flaming Lips
57. Chuck E's in Love - Ricky Lee Jones
58. Talking 'Bout a Revolution - Tracy Chapman
59. Badlands - Bruce Springsteen
60. Proud Mary - Ike and Tina Turner
61. Love Child - The Supremes
62. Woodstock - Joni Mitchell
63. All Your Favourite Bands - Dawes
64. Do What You Gotta Do - The Four Tops
65. If you Could Read My Mind  - Gordon Lightfoot
66. One Headlight - The Wallflowers
67. No Other - Gene Clark
68. River - Dennis Wilson
69. Steady Pace - Matthew E White
70. Respect - Aretha Franklin
71. The Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash
72. Schooldays - Loudon Wainwright
73. Doo Wop (That Thing) - Lauryn Hill
74. Save the Country - Laura Nyro
75. Oh My Sweet Carolina - Ryan Adams
76. My Country Tis of Thee - Mahalia Jackson
77. Elvis Presley Blues - Gillian Welch
78. Lucille - Little Richard
79. Mystery Train - Elvis Presley
80. Midnight Special - Odetta
81. Me and Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin
82. Make Your Own Kind of Music - Mama Cass